Path 2

What Happens When Women Cook in John Fraser’s Kitchen

March 30, 2011

Last week, Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez told us that she’d be taking part in a weekly female chefs series beginning next month at What Happens When. Now the restaurant, which just began its third movement yesterday, has coughed up some more details about the series, which will every Monday feature the work of a female chef, sommelier, and pastry chef.

Notably missing from the lineup is Gabrielle Hamilton, whose best-selling memoir Blood, Bones & Butter features an entire chapter on why she’s tired of “this draining, polarizing conversation about where the women are in the industry.”

And looking at the restaurant’s press materials, her point feels relevant: The chefs who will cook at What Happens When are encouraged to “experiment and reach beyond the dishes, desserts and wines that diners would expect in their respective restaurants.” But many of these supremely talented chefs are already experimenting and exploring at their respective restaurants, where they’ve made a name for themselves doing food that exceeds the expectations of their many appreciative customers. So it’s difficult not to read the press materials as well-intentioned but condescending, and it also makes one wonder where celebrating female talent ends and a publicity stunt begins.

Have a tip or restaurant-related news? Send it to fork@villagevoice.com.

‘The World Trade Center was conceived by vested interests, promoted by pressure groups, brought into being by a handful of powerful men for reasons of monetary gain or personal pressure, and indirectly subsidized by the taxpayer’